Obama and the Media are Frustrated with the Media Coverage of the Election

One has to wonder if we’re all simply part of some incredibly complex satire. The latest example of what seems like a case of meta-trolling is the frustration that seems to be brewing on the Left.

On the same day that President Obama was caught whining at the media’s coverage of the presidential race, the Hill was reporting on how the leftist media is upset that Hillary Clinton isn’t receiving more aide from the media. Yes, the liberal media is complaining about the liberal media not being liberal enough.

Now that Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, is going through a crisis — besides the health issue, she is under criticism for saying half of Trump’s supports belong in a “basket of deplorables” — new complaints are coming from the left…

Many Democrats believe the media is overplaying Clinton’s controversies and underselling Trump’s scandals in an effort to create the appearance of balance — a so-called false equivalency…

Some are leaning on their peers in the nonpartisan press to make the case that reporters have a responsibility to drop the false equivalency and cover the GOP nominee as a danger to the nation.

“Journalists who are the targets of this criticism have responded with reflexive defensiveness of the work they’ve done … but have largely ignored the central critique,” The New Republic’s Brian Beutler wrote on Tuesday. “Is it possible that political journalists will pave the way to a Trump presidency by underplaying the risks he poses to American democracy?”

Yes, liberals are actually arguing that Trump is so dangerous that the mainstream media owes it to America to drop the pretense of impartiality and to openly support Hillary Clinton. Sure, Clinton is embroiled in corruption scandals. Sure, Clinton was caught practically giving away national secrets to our enemies. Sure, the almost 70-year old Clinton seems to be suffering from a variety of worrisome health ailments. But Donald Trump is MEAN!

It’s not just the liberal pundits getting antsy; even President Obama is complaining that his friends in the media aren’t being friendly enough.

I’m not running this time but I sure do get frustrated with the way this campaign is covered. I’m just telling the truth. Guys in the back, I’m just telling you the truth about how I feel about this. Do you mind if I just vent for a second?

You know, the — you don’t grade the presidency on a curve. This is serious business. And when we see folks talking about transparency. You want to debate transparency? You’ve got one candidate in this race who’s released decade’s worth of her tax returns. The other candidate is the first in decades to refuse to release any at all. You want to debate foundations and charities? One candidate’s family foundation has saved countless lives around the world. The other candidate’s foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a six-foot tall painting of himself.

I mean, you know, he had the taste not to go for the ten-foot version. You want to debate who’s more fit to be our president? One candidate who’s traveled to more countries than any secretary of state ever has, has more qualifications than pretty much anyone who’s ever run for this job, and the other who isn’t fit in any way, shape or form to represent this country abroad and be its commander-in-chief.

So, somehow as things go on because we’ve become so partisan, our standards for what’s normal have changed. And Donald Trump says stuff every day that used to be considered as disqualifying for being president. And yet because he says it over and over and over again, the press just gives up and then you says, well, yeah, you know, okay. They did stuff — ‘I was opposed to the war in Iraq.’ Well, actually, he wasn’t, but they just accept it.

I’m not sure if the President realizes it or not, but every complaint he has about Trump here can also be said of Clinton. Think about it:

Her excuses about her email scandal have been proven wrong time and time again, but instead of holding her feet to the fire, the media has simply allowed her to make new excuses about the old excuses. How about her health? For months the liberal media and Clinton’s team have made excuse after excuse in declining to deal with questions about her health. Now that they’re being forced to confront her fragile health, they’ve begun spinning her health battles into a positive for the campaign – attempting to call her “tough” and “brave” for fighting through sickness. Has the media confronted them on this? Nope. How about on transparency? Obama praises Clinton’s experience and the good her foundation has done – but he avoids mentioning that Clinton was singlehandedly responsible for the biggest breach of national security in decades, or that the Clinton foundation has been misleading the IRS for years. Lastly Obama mentions Trump’s flip-flopping but forgets to discuss Clinton’s. Hillary Clinton has been on both sides of almost every plan in the Democrat platform – gay marriage, the war in Iraq, the war on terror, socialized medicine, energy, on and on and on.

Obama’s whiny little tantrum would be laughable, except for the fact that the media is likely taking his complaints very seriously.

Onan is the Editor-in-Chief at Liberty Alliance media group. He's also the managing editor at Eaglerising.com, Constitution.com and the managing partner at iPatriot.com. Onan is a graduate of Liberty University (2003) and earned his M.Ed. at Western Governors University in 2012. Onan lives in Atlanta with his wife and their three wonderful children. You can find his writing all over the web.